Land over Sea, below the Sky, around the Sun
by Saxima
Summary: These four things make up "Regno Cuore" or Kingdom Hearts. Sora is kept clueless, Riku is kept "dead", Kairi is . . . not her self, and Taiyō is kept a secret. These are The Four Children. Welcome home Sora.


**Notes: **Hey guys, it's Saxima. How are you all? c:  
>So I decided since I'm starting school tomorrow, I won't be having much time to be working on all of my stories, so I thought I'd leave you guys with a little present. This is basically my first full-blown Kingdom Hearts fanfic, but I'm not really nervous about it considering I know buttloads of stuff about the series, so this should turn out fine.<p>

**A few warnings, I guess: **In the beginning of the story, everything is pretty normal, but it has hints of established pairings and parings that will be established later on in the story and these are: RikuxSora, TerraxVentus, AxelxRoxas, and a few more. This story also contains two original characters, and their names are Ignis and Taiyō. I really wish I had a backstory for them to show you guys so you can understand a little bit more, but if you really want, my deviantART has a bit of information on Taiyō, so there's the link in my profile if you're really interested.

**Disclaimer:** I, Saxima, claim no ownership of any of the characters of Kingdom Hearts. Only the story and Taiyō/Ignis belong to me.

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><p>Sora lay on his bed, silent, thoughtful. It had been a long week for no reason at all; maybe it was because all he did was lay in his bed and think. Alone. All of the time.<p>

He was sixteen and had a carefree life, that is to say, he had no parents and lived alone. They died when he was younger, in a car crash, driving home. They left him alone. Alone.

He sighed. _Jeez, that sounds so mopey, doesn't it?_

The truth was, he wasn't completely alone, he had two brothers who were named Roxas and Ventus, but they didn't live with him – they were still in the process of doing that at the moment.

Thinking about this, Sora's mind drifted off into thoughts of his hometown; Twilight Town. He missed everyone there so much. When he, Ventus, and Roxas lived there when they were younger, life was so great, they had lots of friends and it seemed like they had not a problem in the world.

Then something happened to Ventus and his friends. And that's when it all fell apart – their perfect lives. Sora was separated from his two identical and older brothers and was sent somewhere else, and while Roxas and Ventus had the benefit of remaining in Twilight Town, Sora got shipped off to a place called Destiny Islands. Don't misunderstand, there were a lot of great things about living where he did; it was beautiful, the air was fresh, the water was clear – it was a paradise.

The teenager didn't necessarily hate it, but it was lonely; he didn't have many friends, that is to say (again), he didn't have any true friends. He was pretty popular at school, but no one was his friend for who he really was. Sora didn't even know why he was so popular in the first place, he hadn't done anything to deserve it.

Most of all, there was a person he really missed. Riku – his best friend. The one that wasn't alive anymore. He died too, when Sora was nine, he had been kidnapped by a man and put up some insane ransom that his parents couldn't pay for. In the end, Riku was murdered.

Before he moved away, the boy went to visit his best friend's grave every day, once. Sometimes twice. Riku had been a very special boy to Sora, they were the best of friends and everyone knew it. Some people even dared to guess what would start happening when they grew up, and for a while, Sora believed it. But now he would never know.

That was the thing he hated most about leaving home; he had to leave Riku behind.

_Haha, but it's not like I could've dug up his grave and taken him with me._ he thought. _That would've been a bit . . . weird._

The one thing that kept Sora going everyday was the promise the three brothers made before they were separated . . .

-Flashback-

"Are you _serious_?" Ven shouted out, "Terra! This isn't fair! How would you like it if that happened to -"

A girl with blue hair, Aqua, cut him off, "Ven . . . you already know what's happened to Riku. Don't bring it back . . ."

"Then what about Ignis, huh? How come she doesn't have to give up Taiyō? Why do I have to be the only one?" he continued frustratedly.

Sora looked at his older brother then at the other two older people. Roxas gripped his hand and frowned. Frankly, Sora had no idea what was going on. Something about moving away? Something about islands . . .?

"I'm sorry, this is the way it has to be." Aqua sighed, and Terra looked away.

"LIES!" Ven cried out angrily, "This is not how master would want it to be! He even _told you_ that if anything happened to him, we were supposed to stay together! That was what he . . ." And he trailed off.

Another person came into the room, a girl with tan skin and lava-red hair, "The master isn't here anymore Ventus. Stop digging up the past . . ." she said, hurt by her own words, but still coolly.

The younger boys looked up at Ven, Terra had given him a piece of paper.

"Ven . . . what's wrong?" the ten-year-old Sora asked in a small voice.

The older didn't answer him, but looked up at Terra and Aqua and then spoke with a calmer, sadder tone, "This is why he can't stay?" he asked softly, "This is why none of them can stay together . . .?" Sora watched as he gripped the paper, and then started to hear it tear, little by little.

For what seemed like a long time, it was very quiet. The look of sadness on Ven's face only grew and it began to worry Sora. He tugged on his brother's shirt, "Ven, what's gonna happen to us?" he asked. He could tell Ven was trying to avoid looking at him.

For a moment Ven looked away and then at Roxas, then one of his hands went to his face. Sora waited. The blonde faced him. For the very first time in his life, Sora saw a look on Ven's face that he had never seen before. It was such a desolate look, covered up with a fake smile. He grabbed both of his brothers' hands and held them tightly, as if holding on for dear life.

"Sora . . . you have to go with Aqua. She's going to take you to an island for a vacation for a while." he explained with a smile. "Roxas, Sora is going to be leaving us for a little while, so it's just going to be you and I."

Sora was confused. "A vacation . . .?" he asked, "Are you both coming too?"

He shook his head, "No. This is a special vacation, one for you only."

"But I don't wanna . . . go without you. It wouldn't be no fun . . ." he complained smally.

The girl with the red hair ushered Aqua and Terra out of the room, "We'll be waiting, Ventus."

Sora watched as they left the room. He then looked at Roxas who hand tapped on his shoulder and gestured at their older brother; Sora's eyes went wide. "No . . . why – why are you crying?" He pulled his hands away and wiped at his brother's face. "Tell me what's wrong Ven . . ."

"I – I promise Sora, one day, I'll pick you up from your vacation, and I'll bring you back here. Okay?

And then me and you can be a family together – a little broken, but still a family." he said.

Sora was just so confused! "I'm not going to be able to see Riku anymore?" he asked

"It's not like you can take him with you, is it?" Ven said, adding a little laugh through his tears.

This made Sora feel a little better, though he still had no idea what was going on. It was quiet again. He looked up, "Ventus, how long will I be on this vacation?" he asked.

The eldest bit his lip and a few more tears spilled over, "I don't know . . . how long you're going to be there." he replied. "But for now, this is the way it has to be."

"But I don't wanna leave you or Roxas or Riku . . ." He could feel tears welling up in his eyes.

"I know . . . but Sora, one day, I promise – I'll pick you up from your vacation and we'll all go visit Riku together." he said again. "Now," he sniffed, "You have to go with the lady with blue hair. And you better behave, otherwise, I'll get you." he said with a smile.

Sora nodded obediently, "I'll see you after my vacation?" he asked.

"After your vacation." Ven repeated.

Ventus motioned for both of the younger boys to come to him. They hugged tightly, and stayed like

that for a very long time. Ven was the one that discharged the hug, "Now go."

"Alright." Sora nodded. The door opened, Sora looked over his shoulder and waved, "I'll see you later brother!" he said with a goofy grin.

Ven made no reply but waved back. Roxas waved too, but with a frown on his face; since he was the middle child, he wasn't as naïve as Sora – he knew what was going on.

The door shut and Ven fell to his knees, dropped his head into his hands, and for the first time since his Master died, he cried. Roxas looked at his older brother, not having recalled seeing him cry in a very long time. This scared him, and he hugged the crying Ventus and began to bawl himself.

-End Flashback-

Back then, Sora was so gullible, and up until this day, he never forgave himself for believing that what he was doing was going on a vacation. He thought it was a short one; like a month or so. When a month was over, he went to an adult who took him to see the lady that brought him to the islands.

She explained everything to him and he was at a loss for words; the woman with blue hair, the woman named Aqua was never coming back for him - or something like that, so he had to stay there and it's been about six long years since then. From that day on, he was a hallow shell, void of any real emotions. He started going to school and made sure he was a loner. His grades were at the top of his class and he was good in any sport he played; he was a renaissance boy. Maybe that's why he was so popular.

Still, the only thing that ever kept him going was the thought that one day, Ventus and Roxas would come and pick him up from his vacation. And every day, that's what Sora waited for. To go back and be a broken family with Ven and Roxas and go visit Riku every day.

That's what he was waiting for.

Then there was a knock on his door.

"Coming!" Sora called as he got off his bed. He walked across his apartment and looked through the peep hole to see a man with a blue hat. He opened.

"Are you Sora?" the man asked. Sora nodded.

"This just came in for you." The man handed him a box. "Thank you for your time." He turned around and left.

"For me?" Sora asked. He shut the door and went back to his bed. The box was pretty small, but needed to be held with two hands. _Wonder what it is . . ._

He began to open the box, still wondering who sent it to him, since there was no original address. It was labeled as air mail, so someone from far away must've sent it. But the only people he knew from far was his friends in Twilight Town.

_That means . . ._

He was much quicker in opening the box now. Inside was a bottle and a few pictures. At the bottom was a letter.

Sora looked at the bottle first, it was labeled with child's handwriting: _Riku and Sora's amazing rock collection!_ Sora gasped, he hadn't seen this in . . . well since he was a kid!

He looked at the pictures. Ones of Ven, Roxas, Kairi, Terra, Naminé, Yuffie, Cloud, Aqua, and more people from home. He clutched at his heart; it hurt.

The teen was unsure of whether or not he should open the letter, lest it should cause him more pain. But he decided to anyway.

In a very delicate handwriting, Sora's name was on the envelope. He didn't recognize it, so when he figured that it couldn't be from his brother, his spirits fell a little. He opened it, and took care not to rip it. Inside was plain white stationary with black ink handwriting. The letter began

"_Sora . . ."_

_How are you? It's been a long time since we've talked. Apparently, I've been told, that it would create some problems for us if you and I had any kind of contact over the last few years... Sorry about that._

Sora shifted into a more comfortable position on his bed and continued on . . .

_How long has it been since we've seen each other, five, six years? How much have you changed, I wonder? Is school alright? Do you have many friends?_

_I don't know why I'm asking all of this; you're not going to be on Destiny Islands for much longer anyway, so it doesn't really matter. _

_I heard you've been living alone all these years. How's that fairing for you? Until a little while ago, we'd been living alone too. It's kinda sad, huh? To come home and have no one waiting for you – no one to greet you or ask how your day went. I know the feeling, and I'll take a guess that you do too. Don't worry, it shouldn't be like that for much longer._

_I'll bet that right now, you're asking yourself, "Who is this person that wrote this letter to me, talking to me like they know me so well?"_

Dang, whoever it was, they were good. That was along the lines of what Sora was thinking. He was pretty sure he had an idea who wrote the letter, but he didn't want to get his hopes up only to find out it wasn't who he thought it was.

_All that aside, I'm giving you three days to get everything thing you own together. Everything, and make sure you tell whoever runs the place that you're leaving; now that you're sixteen, they can't reject you – believe me. In three days time, you'll see what all of this is about, and you'll be so happy, you gonna forget that you were angry at me for letting you go in the first place._

_I'm going to tell you: we cried that day, you know. After that door shut, I broke down, and scared poor Roxas by being hallow shell, void of all emotion. Everyone did their best to comfort me, even Roxas was trying to be strong, but nothing worked, seeing as the only thing that would make me better was just having you back again. I'll bet you felt the same way, huh?_

_Well, you don't have to worry any more – your vacation (though longer than I planned) is about to be over. We'll finally be a family again. Oh, and guess what? Our family has gotten bigger. Everyone's waiting for you to come home, Sora. _

_Riku's waiting. _

_And I'm sure he'll be happy to see you again. That's the very first thing we'll do, I promise._

_-Ventus_

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><p>What do you think?<br>Please leave a review. c:


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